Maker of Smartphone Surveillance App Fined - Avoids Jail Time

Question: Case Study on "Maker of Smartphone Surveillance App Fined, Avoids Jail Time". Answer: This case study presents a sub-issue of ICT professionalism. Information ethics and computer ethics, as well as other applied ethics fields, need ethical theories to be used in different aspects of the analysis of ethical situations. Among these classical ethical theories is the theory of just consequentialism which is used to emphasize on the consequences of policies within the boundaries of justice. This use of the just consequentialism theory makes it a theoretical and sound practical approach to the different ethical problems of information ethics as well as computers. The malleability of computers and other electronic gadgets that are used in computing and information technology allows their use in unexpected and novel ways. The implication of this sentiment is that there are no well-stipulated policies and procedures that deal with the utilization of these gadgets. The advancements that have been made in computer technology have led to the creation of policy vacuums and even in cases where there are relevant policies, they are mostly inadequate or even ambiguous due to the reason that they were designed during a time that there were no significant advancements in computing and information technology such as the development and use of smartphones. It is this case in bad legislation that is faced by Hammad Akbar. People are not in full comprehension of the laws that are put in place to control the use of information technology advancements, such as the development of software and their applications. Precisely, the cyber laws in different countries are not well developed, and the developed ones have not lasted for a long time for them to be fresh in the minds of the citizens. This poor comprehension of cyber laws and information technology policies and regulations led to the deception of Abkar by his legal consultants that his smartphone application is legal and within legal boundaries. The classical ethical theory of consequentialism has been constrained by justice. The implication of this statement is that the evaluation of a certain policy requires first the assessment of its consequences before evaluating the impact of other policies (Mulgan, 2008). If the actions of people on computing and computing software, which involve smartphone applications do not cause any harm, then there would be no need for policies. However, if the actions taken by people in information technology and computing have adverse effects on people affected, then there is the need to have policies in place to aid in the control of those actions. In the case of Abkar, his effort of developing the StealthGenie smartphone application had some effects on the parties affected. One unethical manner in which Abkars StealthGenie app affected people was that it invaded to their privacies (Zapotosky, 2014). The app was used for surveillance to track cheating partners by recording their conversations without their consent after the application has been installed on their smartphones. The use of the app for surveillance is not provided for by the law in such cases; it is only allowed by the government for security reasons monitoring. The other classical ethical theory that can be used in the analysis of Abkars case is the Deontological theories. According to Alexander Moore (2007), deontological theories are theories that are based on whether an action is morally right or morally wrong on whether it is in conformance or conflict with moral rights and duties. There are two different types of deontological theories, Kantian deontology, and Rossian deontology. The Kantian deontology forms the best foundation for discussing the case of Hammad Abkar. The Kantian deontology theory is used to mean duties. This theory states that people are in moral obligation to act according to a set of certain rules, principles, and regulations regardless of the expected outcomes. The core thing in this theory is the duties that people are obligated to perform. The implication is that a person can be bound to carry out a particular moral obligation, and they should do it without liking to know what effects it will have on the parties affected. In this case of Abkar, his duty is to develop applications, either for off-the-shelf use or customized purposes. One can argue that Abkar has the responsibility of developing applications regardless of whatever outcomes are expected from the use of those applications, either in computers or other electronic gadgets such as smartphones. It can further be argued that the moral duty in the application of the applications developed and the legal boundaries are held within the users of the applications. Abkar, therefore, has no obligation whatsoever to act in compliance or conflict with any form of the application for the reason that he is just a developer. The people who are supposed to take responsibility for the use of applications are the users. Furthermore, one can also argue that spouses are morally obligated to act in faithfulness and commitment in their marriage. A husband is expected to love and be faithful to his wife and on the other hand, a wife is also expected to remain submissive and faithful to her husband. On this argument, it is the duty of every spouse to remain in connection with their other spouse. Surveying them or ensuring that there is an update of what they are doing on a daily basis is morally wrong. These sentiments then make it legal for couples to devise ways in which they can keep track of their spouses always. Hammad Abkar, therefore, is not obligated at all to be judged by his conduct of developing the StealthGenie smartphone app and installing it on clients smartphones according to the deontological theories. In conclusion, it is imperative to note that any case in computing and information communication technology can be analyzed using several criteria or theories. In this case, the consequentialism and deontological theories are used. The two theories, however, offer different suggestions and ways of handling Abkars case. It is, however, the decision of the law enforcers to finally come up with a judgment on whether there was a breach of law provided, or whether there is a policy void that needs to be filled to prevent such occurrences from happening. References Alexander, L., Moore, M. (2007). Deontological ethics. Mulgan, T. (2008). Future people: a moderate consequentialist account of our obligations to future generations.OUP Catalogue. Zapotosky, M. (2014). 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